Vietnam to ban discussion of news on social media sites

Vietnam is set to ban the discussion of politics, news and
anything else that doesn't fall under the narrow definition of
"personal information" on social media.

The new law, known as Decree 72, will make it a crime to use social media for
anything other than to "provide or exchange personal information"
and is expected to come into force in September.

"Individuals should not quote or share information from press
agencies or websites of government agencies," the head of Vietnam's
Broadcast and Electronic Information Department was reported to have said by AFP.

Additionally, Decree 72 targets Internet Service Providers,
banning them from serving "information that is against
Vietnam".

Internet companies including Facebook, Google, Yahoo! Inc and
eBay have criticised the new law, with the Asia Internet Coalition
-- an industry association formed by those companies -- saying
it is "disappointed" that the Vietnamese government has taken a
"restrictive approach towards the management of the internet".

The US State Department also criticised the Vietnamese
government, putting out a
statement calling on them "to respect the right to freedom of
expression" and reminding them that "fundamental freedoms apply
online just as they do offline".

Vietnam has a rather poor record when it comes to freedom of
expression online and offline. Reporters Without Borders ranks
the country 172 out of 179 in their press freedom index, ahead
of only China, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Turkmenistan, North Korea and
Eritrea when it comes to respecting press freedoms.

"If it takes effect, Vietnamese will be permanently deprived of
the independent and outspoken information that normally circulates
in blogs and forums," said a RWB statement on Decree 72. "Its implementation will require
massive and constant government surveillance of the entire
internet, an almost impossible challenge".